OPIUM.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

Papers Relating to the Opium Trade in China. 1842-1856. First edition, presenting letters and memoranda written by Sir Henry Pottinger and his three successors as Governor of Hong Kong. In the wake of the First Opium War, when attention shifted to consolidating Britain's new south-China colony, Pottinger and Palmerston saw the expediency in eliminating opium as a flashpoint of tension in Anglo-Chinese relations.Throughout the period covered by these papers, diplomatic considerations clashed with the commercial interests of Britain's powerful merchant houses. One of the final documents, a letter from Lindsay & Co. to Sir John Bowring, states that "the opium trade is a necessity, not only for the Chinese as consumers of the article, but for British trade as the means whereby a very large proportion of the funds required for operations in produce to Great Britain is laid down... The British Government, by interfering with its subjects in the conduct of this trade... would be but sacrificing the national trade for the benefit of other countries" (p. 75).

Found via Rare Books Intel, a search across rare-book dealers, auction houses and marketplaces worldwide.